House passes sports betting in Tennessee
The House of Representatives has passed a bill to legalise sports betting in Tennessee and sent it to Governor Bill Lee for its final approval.
US.- The gambling industry continues to evolve in the US. After PASPA was revoked, sports betting began taking over the country and Tennessee may be the next state to join in.
The House of Representatives passed a bill to legalise sports betting in Tennessee with a 51-40 vote. Senate Bill 0016 cleared the floor and the future of the segment is now under Governor Bill Lee’s hands. The top official needs to sign the bill into Law for the legalisation to be effective, and local press expects him to do so.
“The governor has said he does not believe that the expansion of gambling is best, but he recognises that many in the legislature found this to be an issue they want to explore further,” spokeswoman Laine Arnold said in a statement. “He plans to let this become law without his signature.”
The bill
Representative Rick Staples said that the bill intends to allow the state to have a new source of income, and explained that billions of dollars leave Tennesse to neighbouring states with casino and table gaming. “So, this is a new stream of revenue that the federal government is allowing the states to take advantage of,” he explained.
The Act establishes that companies in charge of running sports betting would need to be located in Tennessee, but could place kiosks across the state to collect bets. “It would cause an extra boom in a city like that that would have three professional teams and a lot of the local bars or restaurants,” said Staples. “As long as they’re not serving alcohol in the same area that the neighbouring is, they can generate a lot of income and even more tax dollars,” Staples said.
Opposition
The Senate Government Operations Committee voted 8-1 and decided not to recommend Republican Sen. Steve Dickerson’s bill. That may hurt sports betting chances in Tennessee, but it still needs to be sent to another committee for a vote.
The proposed legislation would clear sports betting to launch in the state on mobile and interactive sports gambling, without land-based locations. The segment is expected to generate up to US$50 million in revenue in its second year, Dickerson said.
